


The Wayfarer's Journey

by Kai_Lu



Category: Magic Kaito, 名探偵コナン | Detective Conan | Case Closed
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Crack, Crack Treated Seriously, First World - Genderbend AU, Gen, Travelling through alternate realities, Unbeta'd
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-27
Updated: 2020-05-06
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:29:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,624
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23878450
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kai_Lu/pseuds/Kai_Lu
Summary: The Wayfarer’s Moonstone. Rumoured that under the exact conditions of supposed luck, would bring the holder and their companions a healing light. A light that supposably is capable of revealing truths to bring the holder and their companions to venture a journey of discovery.
Relationships: Hakuba Saguru & Hattori Heiji & Kudou Shinichi | Edogawa Conan & Kuroba Kaito | Kaitou Kid, Hakuba Saguru & Kudou Shinichi | Edogawa Conan, Hakuba Saguru & Kuroba Kaito | Kaitou Kid, Hattori Heiji & Kudou Shinichi | Edogawa Conan, Hattori Heiji & Tooyama Kazuha, Kudou Shinichi | Edogawa Conan & Kuroba Kaito | Kaitou Kid, Kudou Shinichi | Edogawa Conan & Mouri Ran, Kudou Shinichi | Edogawa Conan & Mouri Ran & Suzuki Sonoko, Kuroba Kaito | Kaitou Kid & Nakamori Aoko, Mouri Ran & Nakamori Aoko & Tooyama Kazuha
Comments: 9
Kudos: 35





	1. Prologue – Embarkment

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Alternate Dimensions](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/612886) by Twins of the Earth. 



> Please read endnotes. :)  
> Disclaimer: This is a fictional work, I do not own the series involved.

It was the night of the full moon. Only three more minutes until the mischievous thief in white would appear to claim his prize, ‘The Wayfarer’s Moonstone’. Shinichi, no, Conan mused.

Upon finding of the thief’s latest notice from the Suzuki heiress herself. Conan was able to easily deduce the target to be ‘The Wayfarer’s Moonstone’, and passed the discovery through some slight (read: blatant) prodding at Ran’s father, who later relayed it to Inspector Nakamori.

Whilst researching, he had stumbled upon a small blog about the rumours surrounding the gemstone. The author wrote that the moonstone, under the exact conditions of supposed luck, would bring the holder and their companions a healing light. A light that supposably is capable of revealing truths to bring the holder and their companions to venture a journey of discovery.

The seemingly supernatural whispers aside, Conan also found that the current owner is Hayashi Aiko, the granddaughter of the first owner in the family, being her grandmother – Hayashi Ran. The display of the gem was being held in honour of the wishes of the recently deceased grandmother, whom of which also demands that only a limited number of people can enter the room with the moonstone.

It must have been a blessing of sorts as Aiko-san herself did not wish for the heist to be publicised as she wasn’t too fond of the media and the more rabid fans of Kid. She was also not present as her parents did wish for her to be caught amidst the action of capturing Kaito Kid. Her mother is also a fan of the Sleeping Kogoro, thus, is willing to leave the moonstone in his ‘reliable’ hands.

“Yo Ku-nan!”

Conan felt torn at the urge to kick a shin or yell in confusion. Looking up, he glared at a sheepish Osakan detective. “Sorry, sorry.”

Conan hissed. “Sorry isn’t going to stop the trigger happy assassins from doing me in.” Hattori slightly wilted at the harsh truth. “And what are you doing here?” Unfortunately, Conan was unable to further continue his grilling of the detective as their companions soon appeared.

“Heya Conan-kun!” Kazuha came over, waving at the faux child. Ran and Sonoko was a distance away, still caught in their conversation.

He greeted her. “Hi, Kazuha-neechan.” Questioningly, Conan tilted his head to the side. “Why are you and Heiji-niichan at the Kid heist?” Kazuha answered by pointing at Hattori.

“Well, since it’s Golden Week and all. Kazuha and I wanted to surprise ya by droppin’ in at the Kid heist.” Hattori cheered as if satisfied by his response. Conan raised an eyebrow. “Okay, and maybe I wanna get back at the bastard a little bit.” Hattori gave a small cough of embarrassment as he whispered his ulterior motive for attending.

Ah, the Fairy’s Lips heist. The memory of the heist brought a slight snicker from Conan but from the sudden glare that covered Hattori’s face, Conan was quick to stifle them. He wasn’t exactly keen on being picked up and tossed around, under the guise of affection, as an act of retribution. A compromised since the Western counterpart couldn’t exactly start strangling the primary schooler without triggering manhunt for his hide – most likely to be led by Ran with the blazing support of the first division of the TMPD.

The amusing and slightly terrifying train of thought was soon halted when the lights faintly flickered. From across the room, Conan could see the remaining occupants being Mouri-occhan, Nakamori-keibu and his daughter and the other teenager detective, Hakuba Saguru. The two adults halted their ironically childish bickering. Everyone stared at the lone display cabinet which held the moonstone, carefully placed on a cushion of velvet.

“Okay, everyone. Kid is about to show his stupid hide soon.” Nakamori-keibu grimaced, then moved to pull out his hand radio. “Get into position and hold onto your partners.”

Everyone moved to their ‘designated’ partners. Ran with Sonoko. Hattori with Kazuha. Hakuba and Nakamori’s daughter, Aoko, he believed her name was – Conan also wondered why the girl herself was here as he heard earlier that the girl was a clear Anti-Kid fan. This left Conan with Mouri-occhan and Nakamori-keibu. But since no one was eager for the two adults to start another ridiculous argument, Conan was paired with the elder Mouri.

Calling on the men stationed outside the room of the gemstone, Nakamori-keibu barked out a roll call and for any reports of the thief in white. No news so far, but it was only a second away from Kid’s arrival when a startled yelp came through the radio that the lights went out.

Conan kept hold of Mouri as he moved to turn on the telescopic lens of his glasses. He was startled when he was face to face with a familiar smirk staring back.

“Kid!”

At his shout, Conan could hear the sounds of rapid footsteps, belonging to the detectives and the surprised shouts of their partners, heading towards him. Luckily, before being crushed by four teenagers, the lights returned and the there stood Kid, grinning from his place on the display cabinet.

He held the cushion of the moonstone in hand as he bowed and was holding the remnants of a mask of Inspector Nakamori’s face. So the bastard had been with them all since the beginning; Conan could see Nakamori’s daughter seething from her spot, barely restrained by her companion.

“You damn thief!” She shrieked, shaking a fist – very much similar to her father. “Where is Aoko’s dad?!” Well, that confirmed her name. Hakuba besides her frowned, muttering to himself. “Damn it. I knew something was off.”

Sonoko was the opposite as her yells were ones of adoration for the self-proclaimed gentleman in white. Ran sighed from beside her and kept a firm grip on the blonde’s shoulder.

Hattori was caught between growling and straight-up moving to tackle the thief head-on. At least Kazuha was the Ran in this situation as she kept a hold of him, but it was obvious from the furrow of her brow that she was willing to lessen her hold.

Kid stood impassive at their shouts. He instead made his greetings.

“Hello, ladies and gentlemen.” He then turned to glance at Conan and added. “And a little boy who should be in bed.” That’s it. He going to get that soccer ball up his ass. Conan rested a hand at his belt. He saw that the thief held back a flinch as the silent threat was well received. Good.

It was ironic that out of the occupants of the room that Ran’s father was the only one showing any semblance of calm. That idea was soon thrown out of the window however when Kogoro exclaimed. “Hand over the stone you damned thief!” His demands were unmet as the moment the moonstone was removed from the cushion, the room was filled with a blinding light.

From outside, the task force and their newly discovered Inspector let out yells at the sight of the light Unknowing that by the time they got there, the previous occupants in the room would be gone, leaving only a cushion of velvet which sat emptily from its perch on the glass display.


	2. Chapter 1 - Trusting the Navigator

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> To summarise, it had been a relatively quiet walk to the agency. But much like his luck, it was too good to be true that all was going to be explained soon. The moment they climbed the steps of the agency, a young man exited the Mouri’s home.
> 
> Not yet looking up, the boy spoke. “Sorry. You just passed the office.” Finally looking up, he exclaimed, accidentally closing the door harshly. “Dad?!” A concerningly familiar face stared in confusion. All too familiar but at the same time, very much wrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A warning is that this story will also be considered as a slowburn(?) and will lack in action in some parts due to most of the plot depending on dialogue and worldbuilding. I know this is a big thing for the next chapter.  
> And unlike my previous fic, I will not be doing weekly updates.

Blinking away the spots that filled his vision, Conan pulled off his glasses to rub at his eyes. What on earth happened? Replacing his glasses, Conan turned to look around. His ears quickly reached the shouts and complaints of his companions not a moment later.

There everyone sat or rather laid, scattered amongst the vegetation of their surroundings. This place looked familiar, but what caught Conan off guard the most was that it was daytime. Had they possibly been knocked out till morning, but if so. Why would they be outside?

To the left, Hattori was shaking the leaves out of his hair as he made his way towards the phantom thief who was already up and on his feet. “Where are we?!” The detective barked, hands moving to grab and possibly throttle the thief for placing them in their current situation.

“How should I know?” Came Kid’s retort, equally confused and frowning.

From the corner of his eye, he saw Ran with Sonoko and Kazuha, still trying to find their bearings in the bushes they were thrown(?) into. Beside him, Kogorou groaned, holding his head and squinting at the hissing match between the Osaka detective and thief. The remaining duo was nowhere to be seen.

“Hey!” Conan shouted, drawing the attention of the remaining members of their group. “Where are Hakuba-niichan and Nakamori-neechan?” This most certainly got the thief’s attention as he froze in his place. Conan quietly wondered why.

Ran echoed his question. “Where are they?” Further searching found the two still unconscious in a larger bush. During this, Kid had decided to switch to a less incriminating outfit. Conan could see a slight release of tension from the criminal’s shoulders.

With the girls started to check for any wounds, Hattori turned back to the thief. “So ya’ really have no clue to why we’re here?” This got a nod from the thief.

Kid started to pat himself down. “I also don’t have the moonstone.” He even turned out his pockets. “Nada, zilch.” Kid turned to Conan, giving a puppy-eyed look to further prove his innocence. This only got a groan from Conan and a reluctant noise from Kogorou.

Thus, this led to the formation of the fragile and silent truce between the thief and the group of eight – technically speaking, six. Once they were back to the heist grounds with the answers on how and why they were suddenly in a clearing, there would be no hesitation in cornering and throwing the thief into a cell.

For now, Conan began to ponder on their current situation. First, it would be best to determine where they were. Then they could focus on figuring out how and why they weren’t on heist grounds. They also needed to find the moonstone.

Taking out his phone to pull up his navigation app, Conan slightly jolted in shock when the screen of his device started to flicker. “Wha-!“ This brought a confused sound from the others as they turned to look at Conan. “I nearly dropped my phone.” Letting out a childish giggle as he quickly waved them off with the excuse.

An ominous message filled the screen.

**〈** **Gather and heal your party of [9]! Time is of the essence.** **〉**

A second or two later, the screen then returned to its usual display, as if the glitch never occurred. The app stated that they were simply in Beika park. He decided to only relay the part about Beika Park to the rest of the group, still thinking about the message he just saw.

To make a long debate short, Ran suggested that they all temporarily return to the Mouri Detective Agency, due to it only being a short distance away. Conan could tell that Hattori wanted to protest, but a harsh elbow to the ribs from Kazuha reminded him of the two unconscious members of their party.

This lead to an awkward and difficult to explain the sight of seven teenagers, two of which were unconscious, an adult and a small child, making their way to the Mouri Detective Agency. There was the occasional, concerned citizen who did pluck up the courage to come to investigate were quickly waved away the moment they would recognise the elder Mouri’s face.

To summarise, it had been a relatively quiet walk to the agency. But much like his luck, it was too good to be true that all was going to be explained soon. The moment they climbed the steps of the agency, a young man exited the Mouri’s home.

Not yet looking up, the boy spoke. “Sorry. You just passed the office.” Finally looking up, he exclaimed, accidentally closing the door harshly. “Dad?!” A concerningly familiar face stared in confusion. All too familiar but at the same time, very much wrong.

Sonoko was the first to speak, “R-Ran?” The girl turned to look at her friend. “Doesn’t he look a bit like you?” A bit was an understatement. The boy was a near carbon copy of the girl, just differing by the point that he was clearly not a female.

“Nee-chan’s a boy?!” exclaimed Hattori, jostling the unconscious Hakuba. Kazuha also joined in on her panicked confusion, pointing back and forth.

The boy still stood where he was, in absolute confusion at the noisy pandemonium that was at the foot of the stairs. It was surprising that none of the bystanders on the street came to see the situation. That is, the door rattled opened to reveal a small child. A bespectacled girl.

“Ren-niichan! Are you okay?”

The shouts of confusion quickly changed to squeals and coos, more specifically from the girls of the group as they set their sights on the small child. “She looks like Conan-kun!” Pointed Ran. “She’s even got the dorky bowtie and glasses!” Shrieked Sonoko.

The boy, now dubbed as Ren, looked at them, eyes slightly narrowed. He shifted in front of the girl, partially shielding her from their view. Still suspicious of their intentions and existence. “Her name is Christie...”

Yep. This confirmed it. There stood before then were the gender-swapped versions of Mouri Ran and Edogawa Conan.

Knowing that the group wouldn’t cease any time soon, Conan made a step forward. “Um. I’m Edogawa Conan.” This inflicted a gasp from the pair the differed from their group. “We were in the middle of a Kid heist when we found ourselves in the shrubbery of Beika Park.” He saw Christie’s eyes flicker to the less conspicuous Kid. “But two of our members are still unconscious.” This drew a concerned look from Ren. “This is hard to ask, but could we possibly come inside?”

Christie and Ren looked at one another. The group watched in anticipation of their decision. Turning back to them, Ren nodded.

“Please come inside. I can lead you to the beds.”

Upon entering the Mouri family’s living room, Conan was able to see the noticeable differences between this one and their own. The usual pink floral calendar that hung on the wall was now blue. He could see that the old storage room was being used as Christie’s room – obviously stated by the tapped piece of paper saying so on the door. Ran’s usual knick-knacks were more boyish in nature.

However, Conan was also able to see things that were the same. The current curtains were the same shade of daffodil yellow. Ran’s green apron was hanging from its hook by the kitchen entrance. He could see Kogorou’s usual newspapers on the table. The latest volume of Detective Samonji was also bookmarked beside it.

The atmosphere was awkward. However, trying her best to see the bright side of things, Ran initiated a conversation with her counterpart after laying down Hakuba and Nakamori’s daughter in the bedrooms. The rest of the girls followed in suit and joined in on interrogating Ren.

Meanwhile, the boys were sitting at the table and were talking amongst themselves. Unsure of the situation at hand, Conan opted to remain silent but still kept an eye on Ren and Christie. After all, with his rotten luck, these two strangers(?) could still be hostile.

Seemingly unafraid of the three detectives before him, Kid made himself at home at the table and started to perform small card tricks. It was obvious to see that the thief was still thinking about the disappearance of the moonstone. On this left sat Kogorou, and on the right was Hattori – neither of which were too willing for the thief to go unchecked. Conan sat across from them, joined by his female counterpart who remained silent.

After a moment of thinking, Hattori let out a sigh and fell forward into a slouch. “I hate ta’ say this. But we may just be in an alternate reality.” Kogorou scoffed at the absurdity of the idea. “You mean like in sci-fi movies?” Hattori slowed nodded.

Kid groaned. “Tantei-han sounds pretty spot on.” He fiddled with the seam of his gloves. “But since witchcraft exists, I pretty willing to believe in this too.” This earned the thief several startled and dubious looks, gathering the attention of everyone present.

Ran turned away from her conversation with Ren. Eyes fearfully widened; her fear for the supernatural was running rampant. “W-witchcraft?!” Ren significantly paled at her panicked shout. Kid waved her off, unwilling to further elaborate. It was at this that Christie finally spoke up.

“Is this version of Ren-niichan is also afraid of the supernatural?”

Turning to look at his counterpart, Conan wondered. Could she be exactly like him? “That’s right. Ran-neechan is absolutely petrified by the ‘supernatural’.” He even made the motion of air quotations, and also ignored Ran’s whine of protest. A look of curiosity formed on Christie’s face.

Then Sonoko decided to share her thoughts. “Wait. Do you think that this world’s version of Shinichi-kun could be a girl?” This definitely brought Ran out of her embarrassment. “A girl version Shinichi?” She wondered aloud and turned to look at Ren.

He took a moment to think. “Could you possibly be referring to Shinko?” He questioned. This earned a few surprised looks.

“I can’t really imagine it though.” Muttered Sonoko. In response, Ren pulled out his phone – tapping and swiping until he showed them his screen. Hattori let out a whistle.

In the photo was Ren dressed in a white and peach clothing that resembled a prince’s outfit from the 16th century Europe. A simple golden circlet was also on his head to complete the look. He was looking directly at the camera and smiling, holding up a peace sign. Besides Ren was a girl almost swallowed by a black cloak. Her long black hair was out, curling slightly at the ends, and had a very familiar cowlick. Upon looking closer, the beneath the cloak showed the gold trim edges of a simple black gown. She also held up a peace sign but did not look into the camera, rather looking away in embarrassment.

Kazuha then stated the obvious. “It’s the play we watched at Teitan.” Ren nodded in agreement, switching off his phone to pocket it. The other comments followed on about how surreal it was to see something so familiar, yet be so different.

Ruining the mood, Hattori spoke up in an attempt to bring the conversation back to the matter at hand. “But it’s still kinda creepy. Ya know.” Kid joined in and remarked. “It’s like a reflection in the mirror. But it’s all so wrong.” He then made a pointed look at Kogorou. “Well, maybe not all of it.”

“Why so?” asked Kazuha.

A different voice spoke up before Kid could answer. “Since the Mouri-tantei in this world is apparently still a male.” Everyone turned to look in the direction of the voice. There stood Hakuba, now relieving conscious with the slightly swaying Nakamori Aoko standing beside him.

“Hakuba!”

“Nakamori-chan!”

From the shouts of relief and concern, Conan did not hear the muffled robotic monotone that came from his pocketed phone. Christie, who was still beside him, blinked. Did she just hear something?

Hakuba nodded. He and Nakamori-san made their way over to join the group. Of course, their disdain for the phantom thief was not unnoticed. “We have a truce.” Said Conan. “Once we get can get back to our…. own reality. Then we can go arrest Kid.” Disgruntled, Hakuba sighed. Aoko frowned, clearly wishing to voice her disagreement.

The conversation returned a lower volume as the rest of the group decided to fill in what their two unconscious members had missed. They eventually reached a point to elaborating upon Kazuha’s question, however, Conan was no longer listening. This time, he heard phone sound off in his pocket.

Seeing Conan pull out his phone, Hattori asked incredulously. “Oi... Ya even get reception here?” He pulled his own phone out to check. “’Cause, I ain’t gettin’ anythin’.” He continued to tap at the screen, sending a dummy text to his parents with Kazuha peering over his shoulder in curiosity.

Ignoring the Osakan, Conan turned on his phone and entered his passcode. The phone opened to his usual home screen. This is when he noticed something. He had an unread notification. But in his navigation app. Tapping on it, the screen instantly whitened and flickered. This did not go unnoticed by Christie frowning from over his shoulder.

Christie leaned even closer and whispered. “What the hell is that?” Conan looked at her and hesitated. He thought it over. If Ren and Christie really were their counterparts, then they should be trustworthy. He also thought about the rest of the group.

It wouldn’t be right to keep this from them. If anything, the lack of communication would further hinder them in their search to get back. So he answered, not bothering to whisper. “My phone has been getting weird messages from my navigation app.” More eyes were now on him. “I think it might have to do with the moonstone.”

Kogorou slammed down the newspaper that he was reading. Bracing themselves, the two faux children covered their ears. “What?!” Various other shouts and cries joined him, and soon the room fell into chaos. “Why didn’t you tell us?!”

“Conan-kun!” Started Ran.

Wincing at the shouts directed at him, Conan shuffled away from the group. It was then Christie who stood up and yelled. “Let him explain!” Starling them out of their stupor, Christie’s shout had effectively brought their yells to a halt.

Conan nodded a silent thanks to Christie. Once confirming that there was some semblance of calm from the group, he began to explain. “When we were in Beika Park, my navigation app started to glitch. I kind of freaked out.” Some nodded when remembering his strange behaviour. “Then a message came up. It said ‘Gather and heal your party of 9. Time is of the essence.’” Holding up his phone, he showed them the current message. “Now it’s changed to this.”

**〈** **Converse with your party of [9] and seek shelter! Divide and conquer.** **〉**

“That’s really creepy.” Whimpered Kazuha. The rest of the girls, sans Christie, nodded in agreement.

“Is this shit like a game or somethin'?!" Hattori hissed in suspicion.

Being ever practical, Hakuba spoke up. “But it does bring up a good point. Where are we going to sleep?" Even though the sun had been up in the sky when they had first arrived in this world, it had already been afternoon. It was only a few more hours fill disks and thinking practically. Who knows how long they will be stuck here. "It is not reasonable for all nine of us to stay here."

Ren offered a solution. "Maybe you could stay at Shinko's place?" This caught both Kudous off guard.

"Is your version of Shinichi around?!" Asked Ran, nearly butting heads with her male self.

"Ah. Not really. She's out on a case right now." Conan didn't miss Sonoko's muttered statement about them both being detective otakus. "But there is a tenant currently staying there so I don't think she will be too pressed if there happen to be a few more."

"Wait, as much as I am thankful for the offer for a place to stay. But would the tenant be okay with it?" Questioned Ran

Pulling out the childish act, Christie raised her hand. "Subaru-san will be fine with it. He's really nice." Conan nodded along, soothing Ran’s concern.

"An' we can split up. Some of us could stay 'ere an' tha rest at Kudou's."

Conan's phone sounded off. Without needing to be asked, he unlocked it and opened the app to see the new notification. “There are two messages,” he said. But whilst about to read them aloud, a monotone voice interrupted him.

_“You have acquired shelter.”_

They blinked. That was new.

Feathers slightly ruffled, Conan moved on to read out the second message but froze at the sound of the camera shutter going off. Did the app just take a photo of him?

**〈** **Please determine the identity of party navigator.** **〉**

“What about the second message?” questioned Aoko. She climbed over to look. “Please determine the identity of party navigator…?”

Too busy with his internal panic, Conan ignored the conversation about determining who the navigator of the group would be. Other voices came in when some brought up the point about the camera shutter going off in Conan’s face and that it was his phone.

Meanwhile, he was not participating in the conversation and instead thought back to the background research he had found on the gem. Moonstones themselves are said to promote healing, balance and intuition enhancement. According to this particular moonstone, it is supposed _‘reveal truths to bring the holder and their companions to venture a journey of discovery’_.

Thinking logically, his phone just took a photo of his face. Could this app potentially go through facial recognition to the extent that Kudou Shinichi would appear as a possible result? Whatever this less than scientific appearing navigation app could do, Conan knew that this moonstone could very well be his undoing. Looking down at the phone, a loading screen appeared. Ignorant to his current internal panic, Aoko informed the group of this development.

Watching the letters flicker, his eyes widened in fear when the device came to a conclusion. Before he could even turn away his phone, the new message was read aloud by the monotone voice of the app.

_"Confirming, [Kudou Shinichi], as navigator."_

Maybe it was the sound of his blood pumping in his ears but Conan could no longer hear the voices of his companions.

“I knew it.” Ran was the first to speak. "Don't deny it. You are Shinichi.” She stood up and stepped forward. “Aren't _you_."

Conan’s silence was incriminating.

“Shinko…” breathed Ren.

At the words of confirmation, everyone’s eyes turned to look at Conan, and by extension, Christie as well. Both were slack jaw silent.

"So this is what it meant when truths would be revealed," said Kid, muttering to himself. That wasn’t good for the thief. If the Conan-Shinichi conspiracy was exposed, then the thief may very well have his own identity at risk.

Turning his attention back to the situation at hand, Conan- Shinichi glanced at Ren who also stood to join Ran. The outed Shinko shuffled back when her equivalent of Ran stepped forward to interrogate her.

Even from where he sat, Shinichi could feel the fury emitting from his childhood friend. It was when Hattori got up and ran over to stop Ran, and by extension Ren, from outright screaming at the detectives' deceit.

"Nee-chan. Calm down." Acting as a wall, Hattori held out his hands in a calming gesture. "Just let 'em explain." He turned to look at Ren. "You too. Nii-chan."

Still waiting for the tension and the noise level to decrease, Hattori remained in his spot. Sparing a glance to the two different versions of his best friend, he hoped that this conversation would be over soon. Judging by the slight tremors from their hands, the two Kudous were afraid of how to approach the elephant in the room.

It was times like this that Shinichi wholly appreciated the kindness and loyalty of his Western counterpart. Even though thick and thin. The risk of facing Ran's wrath. He still stuck by Shinichi's side to see it through.

On the other side, Ran and Ren had taken a seat. Kid was surprisingly silent – if anything, the thief already had his own suspicions. Kazuha and Sonoko were sticking next to Ran to show their support, whilst the two from Ekoda were next to lost on the conversation. Kogorou was still gasping in shock.

Exhaling loudly, Hattori moved to sit next to his best friend(s). “Okay, Kudou. Tha’ floor ‘s yours.” Shinichi and Shinko looked at one another. Shinichi pointed at himself and nodded.

“It all started when I saw two shady men in black at Tropical Land…”

Maybe it was from the stress of keeping such a secret hidden away for so long. But from the moment the words left Shinichi’s lips, the two detectives continued to talk, telling the bare basics of their secret to their captivated audience. The walls which once maintained their secret started to break and crumble away, leaving two teenagers who were afraid of the crows that peck at the corpse of their former selves.

They spoke of bomb threats, assassination attempts and close calls. They fell to a solemn hush when listing the causalities that they had encountered so far. They proudly told of the allies that they had gained, from simple inland detective officers to executive agents from overseas. They frowned while sharing their theories, but the codename Rum never left their lips.

It was when their throats were parched and their lips were dry that the two had finished their explanation. Once it was all over, they fell back into silence. Leaving only the warning to not utter their names ever again, lest they wanted to be hunted down by the unsavoury figures of the Black Organisation. Different world or not.

Sighing, Hattori stretched. He moved to place a hand on both versions of his best friend. “Well, wasn’t tha’ a load off yer chest, Ku-nan-kun.” The Osakan winced at the glare then yawned. “Hey, it’s gettin’ late anyways. So we should head ta bed soon.”

The rest of the room was still silent, but from the detective’s suggestion some of them nodded and others yawned in agreement.

“So.” Said Aoko awkwardly. “How should we split off?” She turned to look at Christie.

Christie blinked in surprise at Aoko seeking her permission and thought for a moment. “Well. The manor currently has three rooms open. So six people can go there.” She then turned to Ren. “The remaining three can stay here. Is that okay, Ren-niichan.” Ren’s face flushed with the added honorific and childish act, but took in in stride, now understanding the reason for its existence.

Ren cleared his throat and nodded. “I’ll have to let dad know though, but we should be able to take three people.” Then he frowned, backtracking. “Wait. But we only have two spare futons.”

“Well, if Conan and Hattori are anything like Hattori and me here, then they will be fine to share a futon.” She turned to look at the two.

Conan groaned but gave a tired thumbs up. “You better not used be like a teddy bear though, Hattori.” His eyes narrowed at his friend’s snickers. The girls also shared the Osakan’s incentive.

“And Mouri-ojisan can have the other futon in Mouri-ojisan’s room.” Said Christie, turning to check if the man in question was fine with it. Kogorou just sighed in response and made a sound of gruff agreement.

“So that just leaves Ran-san, Tooyama-san, Aoko-san, Suzuki-san, myself and Kid.” Stated Hakuba.

“Well, my bed can fit three people, but it will be a bit of a squeeze.” Christie smiled. “There is a spare futon in my room if you want to use it.” She gave them a once over. “And the girls can have my clothes as well.”

“Really?” Blinked Sonoko, shocked by the offer and generosity.

The smile shifted to one more sad. “Well, I’m not going to exactly be wearing them any time soon. So, think of it as you guys doing me a favour.” She then turned to the boys of the group. “I would offer you my dad’s clothes but I don’t think they would exactly fit.”

“Ah, I can.” Ren smiled as he volunteered. But then his brows furrowed as he looked at Conan. “Um.”

The focus then returned to Christie. “I could ask Haibara.” Some perked at the familiar name. “If we fill him in, he would be fine to spare some clothes.”

“Just curious but what is his first name?” asked Conan.

“Aishuu.” Replied Christie.

“Ai as in sorrow and Shuu for…?”

“Prisoner.”

Conan grimaced. “How poetic.”

“Oi oi…” Sonoko frowned. “Isn’t that a bit depressing to name your kid?”

The two ‘children’ looked at one another. Conan spoke up. “Haibara… is like us.”

“Seriously?! Another one?” exclaimed Kogorou.

“It makes sense though.” Said Ran.

“Wait. Is tha’ why ya’ call her lil’ nee-chan, Heiji?”

“Yup. Not gonna lie. She’s kinda scary.”

“You bet.” Chuckled Conan and Christie, in sync.

X

With the groups splitting to their respective accommodations and the appropriate conversations made. They refreshed themselves and got ready for bed, tired from the jet-lag(?) that they had experienced from their travel to this world.

(This world’s Mouri Kogorou was a step away from a heart attack when he saw his guests, nearly turning to make a run for it when he made eye contact with his own counterpart. Which in the end, was the exact same as him, but his ward and the rest of the teenagers were of the opposite gender. The two quietly bonded in their room over some hushed whispers and cans of alcohol. Ren and Ran made sure to get some bottles of Ukon No Chikara from the nearby conbi for their fathers.

In Haibara Aishuu’s case. He practically all but had a screaming match with Christie and by extension Conan. Of course, not wishing to be overheard, he had gestured for both Edogawa’s to follow him to the basement where they had their ‘conversation’. The two detectives returned approximately 20 minutes later, only but with clothes for Conan and sorely pinched cheeks. Even though from another world, Conan was not spared from Haibara’s wrath.)

Hakuba was in the middle of returning to his assigned room with Aoko when he spotted the phantom thief. “Kuroba.” He said in a hushed voice. Kid rolled his eyes at the accusation but turned to show the detective his attention.

Hakuba gave the thief a pointed look. “We may be having a truce right now but I am prepared to have you cuffed for the remainder of this… trip the moment you step a foot out of line.” Rolling his eyes again, Kid promptly entered the guest room. The door locking loudly.

Still standing in the middle of the hallway, Hakuba began to make this way to his and Aoko’s shared room “Pardon me, Aoko-san.”

By the edge of the large and furnished bed, Aoko had already changed into some pyjama’s that Shinko had lent. “Ah, don’t worry about it, Hakuba-kun.” Aoko looked around the room, it belonged to the Kudou parents. “It was really nice of Kudou-chan to offer her house.”

Hakuba kept to himself the comment that Ren-san had technically volunteered the house, but he wasn’t brash like a certain hot-headed detective to make such comment.

Carefully placing her slippers aside, Aoko slowly crawled into her side of the bed. Once comfortably laying down, she started to muse aloud. “I wonder how dad and Kaito are. I hope they aren’t too worried.”

Hakuba remained silent. He could tell her that her childhood friend was fine and was just down the hall from them, in the guest room. But he resisted. After all, if Conan- Kudou-kun’s secret was reveal, there was the possibility that Kuroba’s would also be revealed. And it was all in due time. There was no need for any more spilt secrets today.

He also knew that he would spend the better half of tonight thinking about the absurdity that is the existence of Edogawa Conan, and Christie. How did a high detective like himself undergo a poisoning but instead survived at the cost of losing ten years of their respective age?

Perhaps, once the animosity and threat of the Black Organisation were to pass, he would ask Kudou. After all, the fellow detective never went into depth on how the drug changed him – he was tight-lipped on how the child Haibara was in the same situation as himself. Did they also undergo poisoning as a form of silencing? How were they connected to the Black Organisation?

“Hakuba-kun?” Questioned Aoko, frowning at his silence and lack of response.

He shook his head.“ My apologies, I was just recounting on the… happenings of today. But knowing them, Nakamori-san and Kuroba would be scouring the country for you. So, don’t lose hope. We’ll find a way home. With Ku- Conan-kun as our navigator, I believe we will be in good hands.”

Aoko looked surprised at the praise to the Heisei Holmes but smiled at Hakuba’s reassurances. “Mm. Thank you, Hakuba-kun.” She rolled to her side, facing the wall. “Good night Saguru-kun.”

“It’s no problem. Good night, Aoko-san.”

X

The next day, they had all gathered in the living room of the Kudou manor. It was too dangerous for six people to suddenly leave the home when there was only one tenant, especially if some the visitors resembled the friends and acquaintances of a presumably dead Kudou Shinko.

So, it was the lesser of two evils for four people to come to the home instead. If anything they could say that it was under the pretence of visiting the currently known resident.

It was also quietly mentioned that the current tenant, Okiya Subaru, is actually an undercover ally who did know of Shinko’s true identity, and Aishuu’s. But this knowledge had to be kept this under wraps as their true identities would bring their enemies flocking and armed to the teeth to dispose of them. Their conversations were to be censored and the three in question were to be referred to by their aliases – technically only two as the two faux children refused to reveal the agent’s name.

Their conversation started when Conan’s phone sounded off.

_“You have acquired a navigator.”_

This time, it was followed by a slightly different notification that filled the screen.

**〈** **Your party of [9] has just embarked on a journey. Find fragment 1 out of ?** **〉**

“Fragment?” read Hakuba. “And the fact that there is one out of an unknown total…”

“How many are there?” Groaned Sonoko, her head falling into her hands.

“I guess we have to find all the fragments and then we should be good to go home?” tried Aoko, shrugging.

“I hope so,” muttered Kogorou, he was too old for things like sadistic treasure hunts. This was like searching for a needle in a haystack except you were blind-folded and the hay was on fire.

The issue of the number of fragments was also brought up in discussion. Why the question mark? How many fragments are there? The moonstone itself wasn’t exactly gigantic or exceedingly large. If anything, it was about the size of an average palm.

The discussion soon became a debate when theories were made on the size of the fragments. If they are reasonably sized, then there should be about five more pieces, discounting this one. Otherwise, who knows how many pieces there could be.

“The tensile strength of moonstone is 6 to 6.5 on the Mohs Scale.” Said Conan. “There is the fact that it also has two cleavage directions, which is an atomic weakness that makes a crystal more prone to breaking.” At least his research on moonstones had come in hand, he mused to himself. “Then there’s-“

Interrupting his spiel on moonstones, Ran teased. “Did you hear about that in a documentary about gemstones, Conan-kun.” Conan choked, abruptly slamming his lips shut. The group laughed at his expense.

Ren smiles. “Huh? Christie knows a lot of things from the TV as well.” This time it was Christie’s turn.

Christie and Conan’s faces burn at the jabs of their poorly made excuses. Before the two could continue their teasing, Conan’s phone alerted another message. Quickly, he opens the navigation app. The previous message is now gone. Instead there a question and two options on the screen.

**〈** **Ready to begin navigation?** **〉**

**〈** **[Yes] or [No]** **〉**

Unwilling to be hasty, Conan looks up at his companions who have already shifted in their positions to see the screen. “Should I?” He waited for a unanimous response. It was once he received all confirmations to continue, he pressed the [Yes] option.

_“Beginning navigation… Please wait…”_

Came a robotic monotone from his device, and not too soon later did the screen change to the 2D map of Japan. Slowly, it began to morph. Osaka prefecture was highlighted. Then it zoomed in and a marker started to blip from its point in the Namba prefecture. Soon, it started to narrow down to Ebisu Bashi-Suji Shopping Street.

He turned his phone around to share. Instantly, the room fell into exclamations.

"Why would the moonstone fragment be all the way in Osaka?!"

"And how are we going to get there? I don't think anyone here brought enough money for the shinkansen or a plane."

Christie quietly murmured to herself, frowning. “I don’t have any cash out right now and it would be too suspicious to withdraw some.” Sighing, she continued. “And my Christie allowance isn’t enough for even a teenager.” Ren patted her on the back.

Perhaps a poor attempt at humour to lighten the mood, Hattori spoke up. "Tha’s nice of ya’ but jus’ sayin' is I ain't goin' by foot. Argh-!" He was promptly awarded a punch to the arm.

"It would be prudent of me to suggest this.” Started Hakuba, gaining the attention of the group. “But as we have established that this world is similar enough to our own. There is the possibility that we could borrow some money from the Suzukis without causing them any financial strain."

"Point.” Said Kid, grinning. “But I don't think borrow is the right word in this sense." Hakuba rolled his eyes at the correction.

They turned to look at the Suzuki heiress for her opinion on the matter. It was her counterpart's money after all. She gave an unhelpful response of shrugging.

Quietly chuckling, Ren raised his hand. "If you guys want. I can ask Enjirou. He'll understand if we explain anyway."

"Sweet!” Kazuha paused. “Wait. Enjirou?"

Conan then asked Ren. “Could it be the En from the On reading of garden and Jirou from his great uncle's name?” Slightly shocked, Ren nodded. At Christie’s poke in the arm, he moved to get his phone and call his friend, temporarily moving to the corner of the room.

(It wasn’t difficult to see the trend, despite the change in gender in this world, their names had remained very close. A prime example being Shinichi and Shinko’s, both names kept the kanji and it’s On reading of Shin, and only differed by the secondary character due to the gendering of the name.

From there, it wasn’t too figure out the reason for Sonoko’s name change to be Enjirou. The first character garden which had the Kun reading for Sono was changed to its On reading of En. And since he was a boy, the Ko, which is an attachment for female names – which is also present in the Suzuki family females: Tomoko, Ayako and Sonoko – was replaced by the Jirou was most likely derived from Suzuki Jiroukichi.

It was all simple Japanese language and deduction.)

“You guys can also have the backpacks. It would best to stock up.” Suggested Christie, already hopping off of the couch to retrieve them and was followed in suit by Ren who had also finished his call with this world’s version of Sonoko. He quickly told them that Enjirou had taken the initiative to book their tickets and informed them of the appropriate times to leave and board.

To make use of time, Conan reminded the rest of the group to gather their belongings whilst waiting for the counterparts’ return. He left to grab some of the canned foods and utensils in the kitchen, silently apologising for the inconvenience to Subaru.

Ren had returned first with four bags. He explained that one was for food, one for the girl’s clothing, then the boys and one was surprisingly for Kid. When asked why Ren replied with: “Because Christie told me to. She said something about phantom thieves and their tendency to be possessive of their belongings.”

Before anyone could ask, Kid only grinned, thanking Ren and took the bag. He did not give any reply to their questions.

This caused some of the questioning but curious looks to be directed to Conan when he came back to place the necessary utilities into the given bag. But he only raised an eyebrow at their stares, unaware to the reason why.

They were then correctly shifted to Christie when she re-entered the room with a smaller kid-sized backpack in tow. Like her male counterpart, she raised an eyebrow and focused on handing over the bag to Conan. “Here.” Noticing the weight, he gave her a questioning look, to which she elaborated on.

“I just went over to Hakase’s and grabbed some gadgets. Knowing our luck, you wouldn’t exactly be prepared so I took the liberty of grabbing some things that could help.” At his thanks and concern, she waved him off. “Hakase can make some more, and since I’m not the one on a trans-dimension adventure. I can make do for now.”

Having waited for their conversation to end, Kazuha curiously asked. “Gadgets?”

Conan decided to elaborate. “Since it’s too dangerous for a child to do anything. I asked the Professor to make me somethings to help me.” He pointed to his watch. “This has an in-built tranquiliser gun.” Suddenly sheepish, he added on. “It helps me do the ‘Nemuri no Kogorou’ and sometimes ‘Deduction Queen’ act.”

Gasping their sputters, Sonoko and Kogorou turned to glare at the not-child. He only let out an awkward laugh and an apology.

“He got me with that thing too,” hissed Hattori, rubbing the back of his neck.

“But what about the voices?” Asked Aoko. “Unless you’re like Kid.” She turned to the magician in question, who pointed at the boy’s bow tie. Conan and Christie also did a small demonstration of their bowtie. It was strange to hear the female Shinichi’s voice; the sentiment was shared by Ren and Christie at the sound of a male Shinko’s voice.

After mentioning some of their other gadgets, such as the turbo-powered skateboard, soccer ball belt – which Kid shivered at – and of course, their modified glasses. They soon gathered themselves and carefully made their way to the train station in separate taxis.

Before departing, Kid used his expertise in disguise to alter the appearances of the group. Through the use of some of Subaru’s make-up – again, Conan silently apologised to the agent for the trouble and use of his supplies – and Yukiko’s wigs which she kept in her dressing room – who has an in-built dressing room in their house? Kudou Yukiko would.

With only a click of his fingers. Kid himself was now sporting a shoulder-length blonde wig with blue eyes, looking much of a woman in her mid-twenties.

Sonoko was now a chest-length brunette with blue eyes and looked about the age of a twenty-year-old, rather than a teenager. Most likely done on purpose, she and the thief looked like a pair of sister.

Kazuha’s hair was replaced by a short strawberry blond wig – Kid was also careful to not style it like the female Haibara; even if the Miyano Shiho of this world was male, they wanted absolutely no hints for the Organisation to track them down. And her eyes were now amber.

Hattori remained about the same but his hair was covered with an auburn wig and simple black framed round eyeglasses.

Hakuba’s face was obscured by rectangle wireframe glasses. His hair was now dyed an auburn and his eyes were a blue-grey. Maybe it was out of spite, but he also underwent a tan and slight freckling. His change was both surprising and not.

(When asked about this Kid gave no clear answer and simply stated that it was part of a thief’s honour.

Conan retorted with, “How the hell does a thief’s honour have to do with you dying Hakuba’s hair and tanning him a can away from Hattori?” He ignored Hattori’s displeased shout. “And did you do that so you could make them twins?”

Responses to this accusation were snickers from Kid, gagging noises from Hattori and an irritated sigh from Hakuba.)

Aoko’s was a quick change but like Sonoko, Kid’s aging make-up made her look like a woman in her early twenties. Her hair was replaced with a slightly curled shoulder-length black wig.

Kogorou surprisingly underwent no change despite to his fame as the Sleeping Kogorou. Kid argued that they could use it to their advantage and instead, disguised Ran and Conan to look like their gender bent counterparts. It was an amusing sight to see. Maybe that’s what Kid actually wanted.

However, Ren had given the all okay and even played along to ensuring that himself, Christie and his father would remain at home so there wouldn't be news of possible imposters walking around as the Mouri Kogoro and his family.

Ran was also given a spare voice changing choker, courtesy of Hakase, to keep the image of a male. Whilst Conan could speak in one of his more childish tones which could also be mistaken for a girl. The bowtie was still a back-up just in case.

Conan also had a slight hissy fit at the suggestion to put him a skirt – this suggestion was obviously made by Hattori – and was already embarrassed enough at the twin braids that were attached to his head. Christie, understanding her counterpart’s plight, stated that the shorts would be fine as she didn’t stick to a skirt anyway.

(Not an entirely big fan of skirts. Christie reluctantly mentioned about the occasional brave paedophile that would take advantage of the slightly short skirt that she would seldom be forced to wear. This then sparked another discussion about Conan and Christie’s safety. Ren and Ran adamantly interrogated the two on whether they had experienced such disgusting issues.

It concluded that whenever travelling, Ran would keep a tight hold of Conan, and Ren made sure that Christie would never have to wear another skirt or invest in some tights or leggings when the skirt couldn’t be avoided. Ren also declared that Christie would also have to hold his hand whenever they travelled. These discussions brought great embarrassment to the two shrunken detectives, however, their unspoken appreciation was conveyed to the participants of the conversation.

But when hearing the honk of the taxis, everyone quickly gathered themselves and split into their groups for the taxis. Each group had the responsibility of a bag. The bag of food was carried by Hattori, the boys’ clothes for Hakuba and the girls’ clothes by Ran – the final two were for their own owners to carry.)

X

Shuffling out of Namba station, the group reunited at the entrance of Ebisu Bashi-Suji Shopping Street. Despite some of the group’s inclinations, they remained in their disguises and had to act as if they are still acquaintances with the other groups whenever they met. Kid even went as far to the point of assigning false names to everyone disguised, sans Conan and Ran.

Hattori’s group consisted of Hakuba and Kazuha. Of course, the two detectives were not pleased with this, but with their likeliness in appearance due to Kid’s schemes, they had to pass each other off as twins. However, that then brought about their predicament being Hakuba’s apparent lack of a Kansai accent.

To remedy this if any curious passers were to notice, they would excuse that Hakuba was raised in Tokyo, unlike his twin, and hence, did not have the accent.

The next group was Kogorou’s which had the fake Christie and Ren. They just had to act along with their usual family dynamic and treat the search for the fragment as a shopping trip for Golden Week. Of course, keeping in mind that their, Ran and Conan’s, genders were now in reverse.

Lastly, the final group was made up of Kid, Sonoko and Aoko. Sonoko was ecstatic at being in the company of the charismatic phantom thief, whereas Aoko was ready to send the thief to his early grave. What a troublesome group…

Fortunately, at the entrance, they had also gotten a map of the shopping street. Each shop was marked with colour coded categories which definitely saved them time. But that still meant over 100 shops to search, and there was still the possibility that the moonstone fragment could have ended up in just the relative vicinity, rather than a shop. Or worst-case scenario that any random passer could have taken it out of curiosity.

However, rather than dwelling on the what if, the three groups had been divided up to search the stores of their categories. They planned to reunite within two hours, moonstone fragment or not.

Kogorou’s group were to search all the stores under Fashion. Gourmet and Amusement – sans the Cinema – were for Hattori’s, and Goods and Beauty were for Kid’s group. There was a unanimous decision for all groups to combine when searching the Department stores and Toho Cinema. Namba Marui itself had over 150 stores…

“Man. To think we have to search this place.” Complained Kogorou. Conan sighed and nodded in agreement.

Pitching his voice to sound more feminine, Conan looked at his phone again. “I guess we should be thankful that the navigator even gave us a specific rather than the entirety of the Namba Prefecture.” That’s 17 ha taken down to an area spanning 350 metres.

“But isn’t that still over 90 stores?” asked Ran.

Conan looked up at her. “95 to be precise.” Kogorou let out an even louder groan, accidentally catching some attention by other shoppers. “But that that is if we do not include the subway station shops, Namba Marui and Toho Cinema.”

Trying to remain positive, Ran smiled. “At least we only have to search the shops under Fashion.”

Conan left it unspoken about the fact that there would still be 35 shops to search. After this adventure, he would be unable to step foot in another fashion store for the rest of his life.

Hence, it was rather fortunate when they were in the middle of searching their eighth shop that his phone went off. But this time, there was no robotic voice to read out the message.

**〈** **Please bring the fragment to the navigator.** **〉**

Of course, life would never be easy. But that did bring the thought about the importance of his role as navigator. Would the group be able to progress without him as a navigator? Or was the role of navigator negotiable with the app. After all, he never consented to be the navigator. Was it all just pure chance for him to even have the app? Why did he get if? Kid was the one who was holding the gem, so why did he not have it? Unless he wasn’t telling them…

“Co-Christie-chan!”

Shocked out of his thoughts, Conan watched as Ran jogged over with her father in tow. Once she was in hearing range, he asked why for her sudden appearance.

“We got this message!” She said excitedly, showing him her phone.

Eye widening as he read the message, he turned to look back at her. “But. How?”

“I have no idea.” She grinned. “I was in the middle of looking through the nail accessories when my phone got the message.”

“I got it too, brat.” Said Kogorou, showing his own phone. “Which is good news because I am done with shopping.”

“Same.” Said Conan tiredly. “Anyway. If you both got the message, then there is a high possibility at the others got it as well.”

“We should get to the meeting spot.” Cheered Ran.

Restraining his urge to just take the skateboard to get back to the meeting spot, since it was also rude and not allowed, Conan decided to take a faster walking pace. That is until Ran took his hand in her own – the memory of the earlier discussion crossed his mind – and he let out a childish whine, not forgetting to sound higher pitched. Kogorou snickered from behind them. Thus, the trio was brought to a more moderate pace to reach the rendezvous point.

Trying his patience, they were met with the sight of the other two groups. In the centre of the group was Hattori proudly holding up a simple rope stone necklace. The stone was indeed a fragment of the moonstone.

“You found it!” Cheered Ran.

Hattori puffed up his chest. “Heck yea’ I did!”

“Oi.” Frowned Kazuha, smacking him on the arm. “We wouldn’t have found it without Hakuba-kun.”

Hattori rolled his eyes and off-handily added. “And Hakuba too.” He grumbled.

Hakuba took his grouchiness in stride. “Of course. After all, I was the one to point out the necklace.”

“Ah yikes.” Complained Kid, “I can already smell the smug-prickness radiating from him.”

“Don’t be rude!” Hissed Aoko. She tried to pinch the thief but he quickly moved to hide behind Hattori.

Purposely using the voice of his disguise, he pouted and said loudly. “But Haru-chan. He just isn’t _my_ type.” This only made Aoko more irritated at his antics and flush at the curious eyes of shoppers.

But ignoring the two, Hattori moved to hand Conan the necklace. Kid groaned at the loss of his human meat shield and Aoko instantly moved to inflict more than a pinch at the thief.

Innocently, the necklace fell right into his palm. There was no way for anyone to prepare for the sudden light that enveloped their group. Nobody even realised that the strange group that consisted of teenagers and the ‘Nemuri no Kogorou’s’ family were ever there to begin with.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a monster of a chapter. Sorry for no actual action - wanted to have a murder occur at that the shopping street, but that would draw it out for another 2000 words, and I wanted to focus on some world building. I also spilt Conan’s secret this early on because it couldn’t be dodged due to the importance of the navi. So the navi is pretty essential to the plot progression.
> 
> But anyway, I hope you guys liked this chapter. Thanks for reading! Leave anything, literally anything in the comments and maybe a Kudo if you have any to spare. I am already working on the next chapter because I procrastinated on this one and am also working on other ideas for other chapters. If you have a request or any ideas, just drop it down below. 
> 
> Below are the notes on the gender-bent names, including ones I didn’t mention in the chapter, and the explanation on how I decided them. If you literally couldn’t care less, you can just go back to whatever you were doing.  
> If you’re curious about how I did this, I used the site: jisho.org. It legit translates to dictionary. It is a great resource for studying or other tasks. If you specifically want to use it to make up names for a Japanese character without making one that sounds like a hybrid or outright use a non-Japanese name. Just enter whatever kanji, hiragana or romaji you want and then followed by #name. Good luck :).
> 
> \- Ran 蘭 -> Ren 蓮 - [Translation: Lotus – this was chosen due to Ran’s name meaning Orchid so I wanted a masculine or gender-neutral flower name; Ren is also Ran but one letter difference so yeah :P]  
> \- Conan コナン-> Christie クリスティー - [Yep, like Agatha Christie]  
> \- Sonoko園子 -> Enjirou 園次郎 - [I actually struggled with this one, but I’ve already explained this previously but if you forgot: I chose the On reading of 園as the Kun is Sono which is for feminine names. 子is also for female names so I just grabbed the 次郎 from Jiroukichi – Sonoko’s great uncle - 次郎吉. I originally wanted the Kichi but it didn’t work out so I stuck with Jirou.]  
> \- Shinichi 新一 -> Shinko 新子 - [Shinichi is a masculine name so I just replaced the 一 with 子 – of course I had to double-check that it is a ‘proper’ name, which it is!]  
> \- Ai 哀 -> Aishuu 哀囚 - [I had some difficulty on deciding what male Haibara’s name would be so I just first put 哀as a name and searched for male or gender-neutral variants and then boom. I found 哀囚. And since 囚 has the On reading of Shuu, which means prisoner – overall making the rough translation of his name as Prisoner of Sorrow, I thought that Haibara would be dramatic that way and choose it. But not going to lie, I still find the name a tad strange as I have never heard of this combination before. But it does exist!]  
> \- Heiji 平次 -> Heiko 平子 - [I was actually torn on this one. I wasn’t sure whether or not to keep the reading of 平 as its On which is Hei or to change it to its Kun which is Hira. I also had to check if the name actually existed or not and both Hirako and Heiko exist as female given names. But since I legit made Shinichi to Shinko, why not keep being lazy.]  
> \- Kazuha 和治 -> Kazuya 和也 - [One of the easiest ones to be honest. Took out that Ha and made it a Ya. And also because I know that Kazuya is a gender-neutral name. But I did think about making the reading be Kazunari rather than Kazuya. But same excuse with Heiko/Hirako, I got lazy and just changed the reading to be shorter and closer to the original name.]  
> \- Kaito 快斗 -> Kaina 快凪 – [Again, sounds lazy I know. I’m sorry. But it was HARD. I was able to at least keep the On reading as it is, the Kun readings honestly just made names on their own. But I wanted to keep the Kai part of the name. I also had the options of Kaika (f) and Kaita (g-n) but they just sounded even lazier. But maybe it’s just me…]  
> \- Saguru 探 -> Sagume 探女 – [This is literally Saguru but with the Woman kanji, with its Kun reading, added on. I know. This is so lazy, I’m sorry and the rough translation is ‘a woman in search of’ whereas before was just ‘to search’.]  
> \- Aoko 青子 -> Seizou青三 – [I had the same problem with this one like Sonoko’s and had to change to the On reading which is Sei. The Kun reading, Ao, is more common in either family names or feminine names. I found Seizou and had to check to see if the Zou was the same Zou in Nakamori Ginzou’s name – which it is! The other name I had was Aonori 青之理 but as you can tell, I just find it a tad long, and it sounds way too similar to place names. So I ditched it.]

**Author's Note:**

> Hey y’all, I guess I’ve just signed myself up for a new fic. It’s been a while since I’ve written though, so please forgive me. This is a mistake and a 4 am impulse decision. And is unbeta’d – I literally wrote this 2 hours ago and my usual beta Scheherazade is occupied with her pre-med studies. I should also be studying but I am literally writing this instead of working on my philosophy essay. 
> 
> This fic is inspired by Traveller’s Chronicles by Alaena F. Dragonstar, and Alternate Dimensions by Twin of the Earth on FF.net. If you haven’t read them, well, I recommend you guys to check it out. But if it’s not your cup of tea, thanks for getting this far!
> 
> Anyway, I’m not too sure about how this story will progress. I literally just listed a bunch of ideas of AUs I want the cast to get caught up into and then decided to go on the softest one first and then spun a wheel. I also want to throw them into other AUs and make them go through shit like reveals and the “What if” scenarios like that ONE OVA, you know the one because I’m a bastard who likes to hurt the characters they love. So there will be some angst >:). Treat this as a ‘Crack but treated seriously’ situation I guess.
> 
> On a slightly unrelated note, I have been thinking of writing a “Watching the Movie” fic, because I am also a huge sucker for them. But I’ve been procrastinating because I’m unsure on whether to start with Movie 1 and then move chronologically, or to just jump to ones I like, and because I love movie 19 so much I want to do that firstngjkfdndj.
> 
> TLDR: I want to yeet the characters into more AUs to make them suffer and/or do a Watching the Movie fic/series but haven’t yet because I want to do Movie 19 the most and don’t have the patience to go through 18 others first. Please give suggestions! And thank you for reading this, leave any comments - whether it be criticism or just a simple "Nice. Okay." :)


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